Fishing Forum

Still too early to have any reports of Bonneville whitefish activity on Bear Lake.  But our reliable sources up there should be doing some research and reporting soon.  Typically these fish start showing up any time after Thanksgiving...with the best time the first two weeks of December. 

Where they start showing up and where they really congregate will depend a lot on water levels.  Different every year.  Basically they look for rocky rubble bottom in from 3 - 10 feet of water.  But on different days and under different conditions you can find them a bit deeper.

The first fish to show up are usually the smaller males.  You know the guys are always the first ones at the party.  But by early December there should be a good mix of both males and females. 

I have had a couple of requests to repost my writeup on Bonneville Whitefish.  So I am attaching the one I put together and another from former Utah resident and die-hard whitie whacker Old Coot.  He lives in Washington these days but I'm betting he gets twitchy at whitefish time.  We miss him.

Anglers started catching the first Bonneville WF yesterday but it was just starting. It will only get better the next two weeks and then taper off again. If you're looking for something to catch this weekend, then Bear Lake is the spot. The anglers really did good for cutthroat and lakers yesterday too. Some boats caught over 20 trout with only two anglers! Jigging has replaced trolling for the best results. This is the time to get your fishing fix before ice-up. I saw several cutthroat over 5lb yesterday and one went about 9lbs.

(11-26-2021, 01:55 PM)TubeDude Wrote: [ -> ]Still too early to have any reports of Bonneville whitefish activity on Bear Lake.  But our reliable sources up there should be doing some research and reporting soon.  Typically these fish start showing up any time after Thanksgiving...with the best time the first two weeks of December. 

Where they start showing up and where they really congregate will depend a lot on water levels.  Different every year.  Basically they look for rocky rubble bottom in from 3 - 10 feet of water.  But on different days and under different conditions you can find them a bit deeper.

The first fish to show up are usually the smaller males.  You know the guys are always the first ones at the party.  But by early December there should be a good mix of both males and females. 

I have had a couple of requests to repost my writeup on Bonneville Whitefish.  So I am attaching the one I put together and another from former Utah resident and die-hard whitie whacker Old Coot.  He lives in Washington these days but I'm betting he gets twitchy at whitefish time.  We miss him.

Thanks for the report and info. Much appreciated!

We were there yesterday and did not see or catch any whitefish.... But my son did catch a nice cut that had a tag.... Bearlakefishguy .... We fished with you a few years ago when DJ's boat had some troubles. Do we contact you about this tag? Or wait and contact the dwr on Monday for details?

We caught two whitefish today at Cisco beach. 16" and 18". White tube jigs tipped with a small gulp minnow. The biologist girl said it was the first two she has seen this season.

Mike

Thanks for the early reporting

Thanks all for the great info, I'll be watching the weather report and see if I can find a day to check things out.. Thanks for the info... Jeff

Looks like 10-12 mph west winds this weekend.  How bad does the lake kick up in those conditions?

Anything over 10 mph is really rough in my 16 footer... I've fished in it, but it's miserable... That's when I wish I had a bigger boat... Later J